The Collinsport Chronicles XXXI: The Hunger
by Maryland Rose
Summary: Yolanda's thirst for revenge reaches out to Barnabas and makes him a threat to all those he loves.
1. Chapter 1

Barnabas leaned of Julia's past as a child of the Holocaust. Julia is pregnant, and worried if her baby will be normal. Yolanda Overton found stones that give off great power, but feed on human energy, and risk killing her. Quentin has left Collinsport to try his luck in the wide world. Adam and Carolyn plan to marry. George met the old sheriff, George Patterson, who resents the one who has taken his place and hints at blackmail. David is set to marry Hallie Stokes, not knowing that she is now a phoenix.

* * *

THE HUNGER

Chapter 1

Barnabas was there, waiting for him.

It felt good to know that. Somebody missed him and had been waiting for the moment when he would see him again. It was something that he had done without for a long time and had told himself it did not matter. But it did.

They had a joyful reunion, told each other the news, and in order to make up for the days they had lost, got into an argument.

At least - George told himself later - it was a highly original argument. No one else had the problems that the and Barnabas had.

It all started when Barnabas said that he might like to work for Maggie again.

"Why would you want that? Remember the last time you tried that, and how you finally had to tell her to stop blackmailing you emotionally? Do you really need to be abused by her? Because that's what she'll do. She'll use you when she can, and throw you away when she's done... And it will have nothing to do with what happened in 67. She'll do it because she can get away with it. She's a barracuda."

"She's not."

"All politicians are barracudas.. They could not make it otherwise.. I grant you that many of them are sincere and dedicated. But deep down, they are ready for the kill. Keep away from them if you know what is good for you.:"

"What about you? You too have to run for office. That makes you some kind of politician, too."

"Don't remind me."

"Should I keep away from you too?"

"Hardly" George smiled. "I am not much of a barracuda. If I say so."

"But Maggie's different, isn't she?"

"She is.. You know what she's done in the past, what she can do again. Save yourself a lot of grief and keep away from her."

"I know. Still" there was a wishful look in Barabbas's eyes that told George that his desire to volunteer had nothing to do with Maggie herself.

"You just want to be involved in a political campaign, is that it?"

Barnabas nodded.

"Well, I am running for reelection. If you want to run a campaign, run mine."

Barnabas looked abashed. "It is not the same thing. You have no opposition to speak of."

"Neither had Patterson for many years. Until he was voted out."

Barnabas shook his head again.

"What's the matter? Am I not good enough?" Now George was slightly irritated again. Did he mean less to Barnabas than Maggie did?

"George, if you were running for more than a local office..."

George stared at Barnabas. "You meant that you care only for national office?"

"I was born to it."

"What?"

"With my social position, with my family connections, I could have aspired to the highest offices in the land. If it had not been for Angelique, what might I not have become?"

"President?" There was skepticism in George's voice, but Barnabas did not hear it.

"Yes. Even that. It might well have been me instead of John Quincy Adams."

George shook his head... The worst part was that Barnabas was right about that.

"So I am going to be with a President wannabe." he said in good humor.

"It might have been me. I do not know what kind of President I would have made, and what the historians would have to say about my Administration. But I could have made it. And something is me is not resigned to the fact that I never got the chance for it."

"And Maggie is your only link with Washington, DC."

"I know that it is dumb of me, but it still appeals to me."

"You are not going to get our political career back from her, any more than you got Josette through her."

"That's a cheap shot."

"Bit it is true, is it not?"

"It is not like that!"

"No? I wish to believe it. Damn it, Barnabas you are so... so unpredictable. Why don't you ask Angelique that she give you the political career that she cheated you of?"

"Because... because.."

"Because you know that your time at the national stage is past. You know that you could not truly function in today's political climate, not with the demands that would be made on you."

"I know that. But why can't I have a little bit of it through Maggie?"

"Because it makes you dependent upon her."

"I could make a better President than Reagan. You have to admit that much."

"I could make a better President than Reagan too! But I don't put myself at Maggie's disposition because of it."

* * *

Julia's lips curled slightly. In spite of herself the humor of the situation did not escape her...

At her age... an expectant mother...

She had had a complete physical examination that the pregnancy seemed to progress normally. No complications expected.

Yet.

At her age... She had her life all set up. All in order, always following a routine. All well fixed...

And this happened...

And Kenneth, was he willing to be a father? So late in life for him, too. When he had come to the conclusion that he would not be and accepted it...

Oh, never mind. It was a baby, not a catastrophe. It was not earthshaking event, by all means.

Still, to be a mother, after she had completely given up on it...

* * *

"So Julia's going to have a baby?" George commented to Barnabas, their previous quarrel forgotten for the moment.

"And she's not the only one. Buffy and Frank are expecting, too."

"They too? And then there is Vicky's baby. It is a regular epidemic."

"Yes, that's what it is."

"You know." George said, a bit dreamily "Sometimes I wonder what kind of a father I'd make. What is it like to be a father. To hold a child in your arms, a little baby and to know that this child is flesh of your flesh."

Barnabas did not know what to say to this.

"Actually I have many children, if I bothered to track them down. There is even a chance that Sabrina's child is my daughter."

"Sabrina's child? How?"

"I am a regular donor at the sperm bank." George confessed "Maybe it is a conceit. I believe that my genetic material is too good to waste. Of course, I am no genius no Nobel Prize winner, so I don't qualify for the Shockley bank. But still, there is a lot of good stuff in me, and I'd like to pass it on."

"I would like that, too."

"You already did. Did you forget Tammy?"

"She and I are not particularly close."

"I am not very close to my children, either. I can't even find them. And if I did, it would not be fair to them or their mothers if I were to butt in. Urien should be enough to satisfy my paternal leanings. You were right. I should be more responsible for him."

* * *

The kitten mewled nervously in Yolanda's grasp. She tried to calm it by petting it, but she was too tense and the kitten sensed this. It could not understand why and wanted to get away.

Yolanda's hand closed around the kitten's throat. She felt tempted to strangle it for its orneriness, but restrained herself. She had brought him to feed the stones or at least try to. Certainly it was worth being clawed and bitten.

The kitten finally gave up and went limp. Yolanda bit her lip. Now she'd see if it could be done.

She made a cut into the small body. Blood spattered her hand and the kitten struggled again.

She pushed a stone into the open wound, using the knife to push it further into the body cavity.

The kitten screamed.

Yolanda used the power of the stone to stop the blood and close the wound..

The kitten had calmed down again. She set it down, and stroked it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"You should have seen it!" Urien explained to Barnabas, breathlessly "All those sharks! Then the tropical fish, then the whales, then the dolphins..."

"I take it that you had fun in Florida" Barnabas said.

"Yes. I did."

"Did you like the Space Center?"

"Yes. All those things that take to send a man to the moon... I could not believe it was that complicated... Then there were alligators at the roadside... But there were a lot more a Gatorland, and..."

"You did not get close to them, I hope."

"They would not let us. Specially at the Space Center. That is a restricted area, and we could not leave the bus. You need to have a security clearance to walk there. Or to drive the bus... It is all hush..hush... We did not look like spies, did we?"

"No one knows what spies look like, until it is too late. How did you like Disney World?"

"It was fun, but kind of artificial. Like they got this place that's supposed to be Main Street, all historical. White wooden houses and gazebos. Only that we got the original in here."

Barnabas nodded, amused. "You have been listening to George on the subject."

"Well, yes. He's right."

"How did you two get along?"

Urien made a face. "He's worse than you. Always nagging me 'Urien don't slouch. Urien floss your teeth. Urien, do this or that.'"

"He's catching up on his father act. He feels that he has neglected you, so he overcompensates. He will ease up, eventually.. Until then, be patient with him."

"I will try."

"Good."

"Look, I've been thinking. Maybe I'd like to become a biologist. Or something like that.. Like the job that guy had, riding the whale."

"You want to get into Marine Biology?"

"Or something like that."

Barnabas did not know how to react to this. It was good that Urien had ambitions and goals. On the other hand, he was not sure that it was safe to let Urien go alone to college. The temptations were too many, and he would have no supervision... Anything could make him backslide into his old ways. Loneliness, disappointment, academic pressure...

"Do you know that we have an environmental center a few mile from here? Would you like to work for them, to see what tit is like?"

"Here?"

"Sure, find out more about it, how much you really like it, and what it has to offer, besides riding whales. And it may help you get into college, if they give you a good reference."

"You think so?"

"Urien, I know that you are bright. But the college people do not know you. All they know is that you did not finish High School until recently, and the way you lived does not recommend you as a prospect. You have to show them something more, and this is your best shot."

* * *

So you are going to marry my niece." Roger stared at Adam, coldly.

"Yes. I am." Adam said politely. He did not feel polite around this old fool, but he knew that the had to try.

"I never liked Quentin." Roger said sententiously "Carolyn could do better than him. But at least he was a Collins. We knew what family he came from. He had breeding." he scanned Adam "We don't know anything about you, Mr. Deale Atwater. Who are you descended from?"

"I don't have ancestors worth mentioning. I AM an ancestor, Adam said, echoing a Napoleonic general who had thus answered to comments about his lack of hereditary nobility. "I don't have to depend on past achievements" he continued proudly. "What I am, I achieved by myself."

"And you are proud of it, I imagine."

"Yes. I am. too ad that you cannot know this pride yourself."

Roger's face became clouded "You are not marrying her!" he shouted. "You are not good enough to marry into this family! If Carolyn can't keep her hands off you, she can have you as a lover, not as her legally wedded husband.!"

"I am part of this family already." Adam said calmly "Your late sister was my wife."

Roger went livid.

"Not only that, in her will, your sister left me a share of her estate. If she did not marry me, Carolyn would have to buy me out."

Roger advanced on him, clenching his fists. "You...you.."

Adam could have tried to calm him. He could have sidestepped Roger easily. But he did not. He wanted Roger's blow to reach him, because then he could hit back. He had always wanted to do that, ever since Roger had shot him. And now Roger was actually asking for it.

Roger hit him hard. He reeled. He let Roger hit him again and draw blood from his face. Then he retaliated.

It took him less than six blows to push Roger to his knees. He caught Roger's arms and twisted them behind him.

The blood was racing through his head. It felt good to do this. He did not want to stop, yet he knew that he had to. Carolyn would not like to see his uncle manhandled, no more than it was needed in self-defense.

But damn! He wanted to beat some sense into the old fool. He represented all the he had learned to hate ever since he had first appeared at Collinsport. The smugness. The self-given right to condemn others who did not satisfy his own arbitrary standards. Always talking about ancestry and family pride.. As if mocking him for his irregular mode of birth. Might as well shout, Roger did :'I had a father and a mother. You were just put together in a slab.'.

"Uncle Roger! Adam!" Carolyn came in "What is happening?"

"I am sorry, Carolyn." Adam released Roger "he...he attacked me and I had to subdue him."

Carolyn looked at Adam's bleeding face and sighed.

"Uncle Roger." she said reproachfully.

"He's not good enough to marry you!" Roger said vehemently. "I told him that!"

"Oh, Uncle Roger..."

"You don't have to marry him. Just take him as your lover." Roger pleaded. "I will say nothing. Don't stop being Carolyn Collins."

Carolyn shook her head. "Uncle Roger, you know better than this."

"Carolyn, try to understand."

With sadness, Carolyn recalled that not too long ago she used to value the same things that Roger did, to the exclusion of all else.

"I _am_ going to marry him, Uncle that that's final. I am sorry that you can't accept it, but I hope that one day you might."

"You don't know what you are doing. As your mother did not know. Carolyn, I beg of you."

"Please, Uncle Roger, try to understand."

* * *

Cats slept all over the yard. It was not hard finding them, nor bringing them in.

And while there might be talk of her being a "cat lady", it was nothing compared to the truth, which they would never guess.

She needed to worry no more about feeding the stones. The cats were hunters, and a fresh kill every day would keep the stones well supplied with warm blood and flesh.

Maybe that was why witches in the past had cats as familiars. They could do errands and go unnoticed. They certainly made good slaves. They would obey her orders, and there was no danger of their ever telling anyone the truth about her, as it might have happened with Elizabeth and the unknown man in the cave.

She poured milk on a saucer and called them. They rushed in. They were hungry, all of them, feeding as they were, the stones inside their bodies.

* * *

"Can you believe it? " Barnabas said to George "Someone else is getting married. I got the wedding announcement."

"Who is it:? Sandy and Xavier?"

"Not yet. Chris and Oriana."

"Really? Well." George said contendedly "Then it means that I don't have to worry about her showing up here, gunning for you. I am sorry to sound like that. I just can't help being jealous with it comes to your former girlfriends. I know that it is wrong of me. But I still feel threatened, and then I react like an ass."

"Don't apologize. She did want me real bad at one time, and was not precisely subtle about it" Barnabas sighed. "Then one day I did not suit her purposes. I hope that Chris suits her better than I did."

"He might." Seeing that there was no risk, George could afford to be fair. "I understands that she wants a stable relationship, with children. She can have that with Chris."

"Chris had a vasectormy."

"They can adopt. If they don't insist on a healthy white baby, they might be able to find one quickly enough."

"Then David got married, too, while you were away. He just told me. He married Hallie Stokes. Without ever telling me. " It was not properly a pout, Barnabas' expression, but close enough to it.

"He did? Good for him. Did they ask you to send them a gift?"

"It is not that. It his not telling me after the fact. And what would it have cost them to get married here?"

"Well, David might have had enough of Collinsport. And the same goes for Hallie. Face it, too many things happen in this town."

"Still, it hurts. And anyway, it is not true that too many things happen. Nothing is happening now."

"Nothing? What about yesterday's commotion?"

"When the skunk got into the Public Library?

"And sprayed me liberally. You call that nothing?"

Barnabas laughed. "I thought that you'd be soaking in tomato juice forever. But still, all the news I get is weddings and pregnancies, and birth announcements and things like that."

"I know what you mean.. It does not feel like Collinsport at all. Who knows, we might end up being what the Chamber of Commerce puts out, a quiet, quaint town, a nice place for a vacation. And worse. It might well be that we'll end up watching the doorknobs rust for excitement."

'You actually believe that? That we may be approaching normalcy?

"Threatens to be that way. I am not sure that I can take it. Let me tell you, if this keeps being this dull, I may be tempted to investigate UFOs. with Davenport.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I am sorry about Uncle Roger." Carolyn told Adam.

"I am sorry, too. I should have controlled myself better."

"Don't blame yourself. He has been difficult for quite a while. the sheriff once threatened to lock him up unless he went in for treatment."

"Still..."

"I should not have arranged to have him released. I realize it now. But I got lonely and I wanted him back, so I bribed one of the doctors to say that he was sane. Still, he's a lot better now. Edmund helps. When I think of the things he used to do."

"What kind of things he used to do?"

"Spring up prisoners, they try to shoot them. Hoard radioactive material in his room. Assault strangers, accusing them of conspiracy. Try to kill Quentin.. You heard of his Nixon theory? That Nixon was framed?"

"I heard of it." It was hard to keep a straight face when hearing of Roger's old obsession. But he knew better than to show amusement to Carolyn.

"I hoped that he would get better all by himself. I guess that it is not so easy. But I don't want to commit him again."

She looked at Adam, begging him to support her, to say that Roger could stay at Collinwood, that he would get better by himself.

Adam understood her. And he also understood that not all the fault had been Roger's

He knew that sending Roger away would not solve his problems, that it might indeed make them worse.

"There is no reason why Roger can't stay with us He will get used to the idea of us being married."

* * *

"We don't have any summer jobs, or jobs of any kind to offer to anyone, Mr. Collins." the director said, a bit harshly "as you know, we are being cut, along with everything else. You don't know what I have to go through just to keep this place going."

"Could you take volunteers?"

"That is not possible."

"Why not? You could get a lot of things done. All the kids will be asking for is the experience. _That_ you can give them."

"So that they can go to college, become biologists and end up in the unemployment line?"

"The situation might change. And it would give them the idea that there are more career options that what they see around them."

The man looked at Barnabas with interest.

"You used to be quite close to Representative Evans, weren't you?"

"Not anymore" Barnabas guessed what the man would say next.

"Maybe if she showed some kind of interest in this program, and if I could be sure of having the money to keep on running the center... Why don't you talk to her, Mr. Collins?"

* * *

Vicky breastfed little Phillip. She felt calm, after so many days. Things were working out. Phillip was a healthy baby, and her situation was more secure than it had ever been.

She had Carolyn's settlement, and she was training to become an adult instructor. Megan had been right. She did not need to cater to rich people, and hope that they would treat her like one of the family. She could forge her own path. She did not need to find a family, she could found her own. She had friends, and she would be making more.

There was one problematic friend. Barnabas.

She owed him much, much more than she could repay. But she knew that she could not ask him to back her against Carolyn. In the end he had not. He had chosen Carolyn and Liz over her... And given that they were his family, why would she expect otherwise?

But he had gone to see Verhoff, the first time he had left Collinsport. For no one else he had dared to leave his safe cocoon.

She should never forget what she owed him. And she had made herself a promise, to have him as little Phillip's godfather. And he would be a good one.

But never ask him to be an ally if she ever came into a collision course with Carolyn...

Her mind wandered over to Phillip. Was he really dead? Some part of her insisted that he was not, that he would come back to her..

Peter had come back to her...

And that had been a trap by the Leviathan. But he had come back...

Maybe one day Phillip would come back.

And Burke? What if he did come back? But no, they said that they had found the wreckage of the plane, and all the bodies...

Still...

* * *

She would get revenge on Angelique, yet, Yolanda thought as she patted the cat on her lap. And get the money back from her, too.

She would also get revenge on Barnabas. It had been him who had killed Uncle Schuyler, after Angelique had tricked him into marriage...

What about Megan Graham?

It was her interference that had caused Zachary's power to be lost to her. If she had not found the jewels, that would have been the end of her hopes...

Yes, Megan Graham deserved punishment, too.

The cat mewled and stretched itself on her lap. Yolanda scratched it absentmindedly. She would have to give it something to do, now that the stone had gathered strength form its blood.

The cat screamed once and went rigid. She picked it up and it screamed again.

Then it went limp. Its eyes glazed and a dark liquid oozed from its mouth.

It was dead.

Killed by the stone inside it. In spite of herself, Yolanda laid the corpse down with awe.

The dark liquid kept coming out of its mouth. Yolanda put him on top of a pile of old newspapers to avoid staining herself, and went to look for the other cats.

They were all dead or dying, black liquid coming out of their mouths...

It did not work... it could not work that way...

She gathered all the corpses, wiping out the stinking liquid as best she could. She gagged several times doing so. Their fur had been stained and she was reluctant to handle it. But she knew that she had to.

It was even harder opening them up to retrieve the stones. She came very close to vomiting as she did. If she did not want the stones so much...

Yet, when she pulled the stones out, they were bright and full of power...

She had the source of power. She had found out how to recharge them. All she needed now was a plan.

* * *

Adam was painting, trying to ignore the noises around him. He had to agree that when Edmund started going to school, the place was a lot noisier. Edmund could be a noisy child. And while his governesses., both Yolanda and Vicky had kept him subdued, now there was no one. to supervise him. The new tutor, Martha Howard came in, gave her lessons, and left. Then Edmund was left to amuse himself as he could. Roger entertained him them, but Roger was not one to keep him subdued, rather he encouraged him...

Roger had become a child again.

But did Edmund have to be so noisy?

From the window he saw Martha Howard come towards the door. Maybe he could ask her to help with keeping Edmund subdued.

"Miss Howard, can I have a moment with you?"

Martha Howard nodded. Do you have any concerns, Mr. Atwater?"

"You know that I will be married soon to Mrs. Collins. I will become Edmund's stepfather."

"Yes. I am aware of it." She was wary. Was this the beginning of a seduction? The men of the big house treated the village as their personal harem. The stories they told about Jamison Collins and his demands on the women who depended on him for wages were too notorious...

The reason why Quentin Collins had become infamous was not because of his tomcatting ways, but because he did not limit himself to the serfs of the estate, but had aimed higher, to women that he should have left alone, like his brother's wife... had he kept sleeping with maids and village women, they would have shrugged it off.

Well, those times were gone, and she was going to keep it that way. She did not want to touch the spot where Megan had bitten her, but she felt her reach... Megan would back her, if it need be. Collins men did not have an automatic right to get sexually serviced by the women beneath them.

"I know that you are a good teacher. He seems to do well in his studies."

"Thank you." She kept her demeanor calm and matter of fact. Not demure. She was a competent teacher and wanted to be seen as such.

"But can you do something about his behavior?"

"His behaves well when he is with me. He is a polite, attentive child."

"It is when you leave. Then he runs loose."

"I try to tell him what are the rules of good behavior. But I am not the one supervising him then. You should talk to the adults who do."

"I cannot get through to Roger..."

"Then I advice to bring your concerns to Mrs. Collins. "

"But you have to do something! This child makes too much noise! And he gets in my room and touches my things! And then he starts asking me why I do this, and why I use the colors the way I do! He keeps asking me to teach him to paint..."

"He is just being a normal boy. You should be glad that he wants to be a part of your life."

"But I am tired of it.! " Adam burst out. "I am tired of being pestered! I am tired of noise! You do have to do something!"

He grabbed her arm and began shaking her. "I am tired of the brat! You are supposed to keep him under control! Why don't you do it?"

* * *

"He'll help Urien if I help him with Maggie." Barnabas told George. "It is a simple as that."

"And so you have a perfect excuse to deal with Maggie... I should have seen it coming."

"I have to. Not just for Urien. Other kids in town could go there and do volunteer work, and learn skills that might give them better shots at jobs later on. I think that Elsa would love to do it. It would keep her from hunting U.F.O..s

"And of course, you _have_ to talk to Maggie. All for the good of all... I hope you survive the encounter."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Megan Graham should be the fist to be tackled. She was always suspicious, and she could find things that others missed... Megan did not trust her, while Barnabas believed in her good intentions, and Angelique tended to follow Megan's lead.

If she attacked Angelique or Barnabas first, Megan would come after her.

So she had to go after Megan first...

She thought of putting a stone in her. But no, she might find a way to make use of that source of power.

But she could capture her, and ... and what if she replace her? A lot of people trusted Megan., including the sheriff. She could be at the center of all the commotion and not be suspected...

Now, how to bring it about?

* * *

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Maggie said in pain. Not physical pain. Just shock at learning about the latest scandal in Capitol Hill. "Pretty soon we will have reporters all over tithe place wanting to know my opinion."

Sabrina looked up from her magazine. "Luckily, they will all be the local variety, not the Washington kind, so they won't be one tenth as bloodthirsty. And you can always get sick."

"True. And then those involved were all male, so that leaves me clear of suspicion."

"Of course, you had suspicions that it was going on."

Maggie made a face. "It is very difficult to keep this kind of thing secret. Oh, yes, it was known who they were and are. It made them easy to control. If you needed a few votes, you went to those you had something on and traded votes for silence."

"You don't need to explain it to me. I've done it for you a few times. And others, Gladys handled..."

"But to come out this close to elections. And keeping people guessing which congressmen were involved, that's a nasty trick. Throw the guilty ones to the wolves and let the innocent ones run for reelection in peace. This is a dirty trick, worthy of Tricky Dicky himself."

"As you said, being a woman you'd not be suspected."

"Drugs. And underage children entrusted to our care. How can they have been so stupid? So foolhardy? Even Barnabas has more sense than that. Don't they know what kind of town Washington is? They'd have better chances swimming with sharks."

"Republicans or Democrats?' Sabrina asked with curiosity.

"A true bipartisan effort from what I understand. Even if the pattern is that Republicans get caught for sex and Democrats for graft... Well, I'd better have some answers ready when I meet the local press."

* * *

Buffy stretched as far as she could.

"Are you sure that this is what we are supposed to do?" Julia was becoming skeptical of her Lamaze class. "I don't think that this is doing me any good."

"It does." Buffy reassured her. "You just have to work at it."

Julia snorted. A highly developed professional snort. She'd love to check the credentials of the quack in charge. And also review all the documentation on the Lamaze method to see if it was as good as they said it was.

"You haven't done much exercise lately, have you?"

Julia gave her a scathing look.

"Come on, tell the truth. You spend the day sitting behind your desk. How much exercise can you get? And I don't see you jogging o anything like that. Face it, you are out of shape." Buffy laughed without meanness. "You better catch up now."

Julia still looked severely at Buffy, but her frown would not hold.

She laughed and admitted defeat.

"You are right. I am frightfully out of shape. I have to do something about it."

* * *

"Do I really want to see my old man again?" Willie asked bleakly. "I know that I should. But still..."

Louella put her hand in his. "He's just an old man." she said softly "and you are not a kid anymore. You don't need his approval. As for his love, you don't need it either. I know how it was between him and you. But you many want to see him again, if only to stop seeing him as big and powerful. You need to see him pitiful and stop being afraid of him."

"I know, baby. I have to put him behind me. And facing him is the way to do it. But I don't want to remember him at all. And all that about putting it behind me would be OK if it did not mean having him under the same roof as Pearl. I don't want her to meet that kind of a grandfather."

"Let him come and if he steps out of line we can tell him to go away. But you need to see him."

"I know, baby." he pulled her up to him and kissed her. "If only I could put myself in cold storage when he came... if I was more sure of myself. I keep playing the scene in my head, what it will be when he gets here... what will we find to talk about? How long before we come to blows?"

"It won't be like you imagine it."

* * *

"So Adam assaulted you" Megan said to Martha.

"He just grabbed me and shook me."

"Which is assault in the criminal code.."

"I.. I do not want it to go to court."

"No. You do not want to sue them. _But_ you need to look as if you do. Always negotiate from a position of strength. If you do not look strong, the Collinses will run all over you. Now. what do you want? Do you want to keep as you are doing, with a strong apology from Carolyn and a promise from Adam to behave better? Do you want to end your position, but get a glowing recommendation for you next job? Or do you want to continue teaching Edmund, but have him come to your place? I would recommend the third. This way you keep your job, your income, and don't have to set foot it Collinwood."

"I think that I'd like the third option best."

"Yes. Nothing wrong in doing business with the Collinses. As long as you make them respect your boundaries. They tend to overrun you if you don't. "

"At least these are not the times of Jamison Collins...the stories they tell.."

"More than stories. My aunt went through that. She liked her job at the cannery, but had to leave it and take cleaning jobs because of him...And yet she still thought of the Collinses as special."

"We all do, I am afraid."

"Yes. It has to do with their being the employers. We depend on them, and they know it, and abuse their power. The Davenport Center is changing things, but not enough yet."

"I hope to get out of Collinsport one day."

"You will. Just get a nice nest egg now, with tutoring and keep applying for teachings jobs. "

"And you? You left Collinsport once."

"The conditions were not ideal when I left... but I had to come back. Maybe I am too stubborn. Maybe I do not like being run out of town, but I thought that I could come and make things different. Let's say that I was angry and the Collinses, and still I am. "

"Are you angry with Barnabas Collins?"

"Used to be a lot angrier."

"You forgave him?"

"It is not a question of forgiving. It was a question of letting him know that people who were not Collinses were human beings and that he did not have an automatic right to trample on us, or to use us in his projects. Sure, he needs blood. So do I. But there are ways and ways. And he had to be taught to feed properly, and to respect his sources. And not to manipulate us, either... You know, he never apologized for turning my life upside down with the Leviathan box. Sure, it was not willingly, but still to acknowledge the damage done to me and Phillip... You see, he could forgive Jeb Hawkes because Carolyn loved him. And he could overlook Rumsen until he killed Hawkes. But helping get Phillip out of jail? What for? He was only a villager. And me? He has an accident with me? Well, I am only a villager. Just drive a stake through my heart. It is not as if I belong to the royal family... I told you, I was very angry with him and the whole family."

"What do you... you think about this business with Liz?"

"Unforgivable. Liz knew what she was getting into. She had people she could ask for guidance. I would have told her what she needed to know, and led her around until she learned to manage. But that was not what she chose. She instead let Roger and Carolyn lure maids so that she could attack them. And they were violent attacks. She did not even try to calm them down. Just had Roger hold them and put his hand over their mouths... And then she attacked a pregnant woman, Typical Collins. All that matters are members of the family. The rest does not count."

"But didn't you at one time attack people?"

"Not violently. And there is a difference between being all alone, with no recognized existence, with no idea of what to do, and being part of a community where you can take care of yourself while keeping good relations with everybody else. I have met those who are desperate, and they are glad when they are shown there is a better way. But her? She was having her due as a Collins."

They talked more, and Martha agreed to let Megan arrange for Edmund to come to her place for lessons. This way, she could take more students, and might even have Edmund share lessons with others.

Megan smiled as she saw her leave. Another step in making the Collinses full fledged human beings...

It was then that the telephone rang.

She picked it up. "Hello?" she said.

"Megan" Phillip's voice said. "Megan, I need help."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Megan stared at the phone receiver, the click still echoing in her head.

Had it been Phillip's voice? It had sounded like him. But he ahd barely said anythiing, just called her name, asked for help, then hung up again.

He had called her name...

It might not be him, just somebody who sounded like him and who needed help. People called for help at the oddest hours. Which, for her, turned to be normal hours.

Maybe she could hire Pearce to take the pressure from her by taking half the calls. George would not mind if she did that.

No, she was kidding herself. It _was_ Phillip's voice that she had heard.

* * *

It was blackmail. Veiled, all right. Nothing that he could take to court. But it was.

But could he believe that of Patterson? A man that he had admired as child? The man whose footsteps he wanted to follow?

His childhood hero would not stoop at blackmail.

Yet that time when they had met in Florida... his words about Dave... the hints about himself and Urien...

It had been bitterness. Patterson had lived most of his life behind his badge and suddenly it had been taken away by what he saw as the whim of the moment, as if his years of service were nothing.

With nothing to look forward to, but the artificial world of Florida, among the tourist traps and the sun. Going to Disney World. Looking at imitation historical houses, imitation haunted house, thinking of the real ones that he had once been trusted to patrol.

The bitterness was too much.

And on top seeing the young upstart, the borderline juvenile delinquent who had stolen his job could drive him to this. It had not been George Brant but Davenport who had beaten him at the polls, and Davenport had been torn to pieces by Jeb Hawkes. But that did not change things.

So what would he do? On the surface it was a request for a loan for some business venture. Call it an investment. And it was not much money, actually.

What kind of business was it? He understood that it had to do with boats.

Boats. In Florida. Something tightened in him. Bringing in marihuana maybe? Or smuggling Cubans. Or weapons for anti-Castro groups. Or a thousand other things that he should not be involved in.

Nonsense! Patterson was straight! He knew better. He might even dislike him personally, might even suspect his sexual orientation,. But from there to engage in criminal activity...

No way!

It probably had to do with fishing. Or carrying tourists around. Or diving for treasure among sunken Spanish galleons...

If Patterson was looking for treasure he might be interested in talking to Pearce... He might like the idea of hunting for a Russian ship.

It was not that much money. And why not help Patterson, after all? He deserved to achieve his dream, once in a while.

* * *

Why did Phillip affect her so? She had been willing to let him go, and had been happy when he had married Vicky. So why was she so shaken?

Because it was guilt of her part...

All her speeches about the Collinses, and how villagers yearned to be admitted to their magic circle of privilenge, she had been one of them..

There had been so many chances to break free of the Leviathan influcence, but she had not taken them. No she plunged into it with abandon, She had even conducted an affair with Jeb Hawkes while Phillip watched her do. And why?

Yes, she could claim that she was brainwashed, but she knew the truth, the bitter truth. She knew that Jeb Hawkes was meant to marry Carolyn. And she, as Jeb's putative mother, would be Carolyn,'s mother in law.

She would be a Collins. She would gain entrance to the magic circle...And so she became an accomplice to all they plotted...

And now she felt guilty about it. And that made her determined to right the wrong that had been done to Phillip. She tought that defeating the Leviathans and letting Phillip start a new life would cancel her debt. But it was not so.

Because Vicky ws the wrong woman for him...She was still a girl, with a girl's fantasies, while Phillip needed a competent woman... Well, at least now that she was qualifying as an adult teacher, she would become the woman she should have been.

Vicky too had been lured by the Collins magic circle. She too had thought of being admitted to a life of privilege if she catered to the Collins family slavishily enough. Well, she knew beter now.

She recognized the resentment that had always simmered under the surface when she was growing up. The Collins family were special, they were told. They were to be admired. Their misdeeds were never crimes, just amusing minor lapses. Who were the villagers to judge them? They should be grateful that they thad jobs to offer then...

And she had swallowed it whole. And because of it she had betrayed Phillip. Well, it was done. Maybe she could not help Phillip anymore. But she could teach the Collinses their place...

Barnabas had started it with the Davenport Center. But Barnabas had been welcomed back by Carolyn, and slowly he was remembering that he was a Collins... So it was up to her to pick up the slack. An adult education center would be a good way to start. Give the villagers a way to find better jobs than fishing or the cannery. Once people were trained, high tech outfits could be lured here... and from there would be more opportunities, and the Collinses would have to rejoin the rest of the general population, with no less rights that everyone else, but no more...

But if Phillip were alive...

Angelique did not think that Phillip was still alive...

Unless Angelique lied.

"But why should she? Jealousy?

No, Angelique had seen what consequences unbridled jealousy could bring. And she knew there was no real love for Phillip. Just friendly concern and sense of duty.

Still, let's suppose that Phillip was not dead, but that Angelique could not locate him. Where could he be?

Two possibilities came to mind. Traveling in time, or in a Parallel Universe.

She hoped that at least it was not the Parallel Universe that Barnabas had traveled to. If he went there, he would be dead. A stranger, trying to pass himself off as the dead Captain Todd, with no documentation, no record of having arrived by any regular means... That meant a summary execution, probably preceded by some torture...

She hoped that if it was a Parallel Universe, it was a more welcoming one...

But it was useless to speculate, without anything to go on. Maybe if she went to the last place he was seen, she might find some clue, or be able to retrace her steps...

But if the phone rang again, and if Philip's voice came out of it, then what?

Did she want that voice to be Phillip?

Yes. She did. If he was alive, she would help him. Maybe rescue him, and return him to Vicky's care, return him to his wife and child..

She had loved him dearly once. Had missed him terribly when he had gone off Widow's hill. Whiter it was love or guilt feelings, she was not sure. But it was because of her missing him so much that she had gone to Elmer Urrey and complicated his life to no end...

Should she tell Vicky of this?

No, until she knew more.. Until she could give some solid backing to whatever hope she offered. She would not torment Vicky needlessly.

And if she felt some satisfaction that Phillip called her and not Vicky, then she could tell herself that she was a problem solver and Vicky was not. Everyone came to her with their problems, not to Vicky. Why should it be any different with Phillip?

It could be dangerous, what Phillip was involved with... Something dangerous that he did not want Vicky involved. Very wise. Well, she could take care of herself.

She checked her gun. She kept silver bullets along with the more conventional ones. And also rubber ones. One never knew what one was going to run into.

The phone rang.

It was Phillip's voice at the other end.

"Megan" the vice said. "I need help. Please help me."

"Phillip!" she shouted "Is this you?"

"Help me, Megan. Help me."

"Where are you? Let me find you. Do you need money? A place to stay? Are you hiding from someone?

Then the click. Phillip had hung up again.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Don't tell me, you are going to see Barnabas again." Sabrina said to Maggie with dismay.

She had a strong opinion of what Maggie should do. And hanging around with Barnabas was not it. Maggie had to face it, she had lost his hold over him, and he had become, in her view, very unpredictable. The best they could manage was an accommodation by which they did not interfere in each other's business and all their interaction was exchanging Christmas cards.

'He has some idea that he thinks I should support."

"He can write about it. He is a constituent. We get constituent mail and we pay attention to it."

"He wants something speedier than that. And to see if I am committed."

"You should be committed, in my opinion. He too, but not in the same ward. You should be kept at the antipodes."

"He can still pull some weight in the Party."

"But not that much."

"Why are you so against my meeting him?"

"I think that he made it clear the last time we tangled with him. You have no power over him. Unless you are willing to start dealing with him on that basis, you should not meet him."

"Why?"

"Because you like playing games with him. And he is not in the mood for it. "

"It is nothing like that."

Sabrina snorted. "I can tell an obsession when I see one."

"That business about Josette is done and over with."

"Yes, but the business about Representative Evans having a tame vampire to do her bidding is not over. You want this. You think he owes it to you.. And he thinks that he does not."

"But he does owe it to me!"

Was Maggie pouting? Very likely. She had become comfortable with having Barnabas at her beck and call, and was not willing to let go of it..

But eventually she would have to. Sabrina sighed. She had been hired to protect Maggie from all threats. But at this moment it seemed as if the greatest threat she faced was herself.

One day she would push Barnabas too much. And she would forget that Barnabas could be dangerous. Could get out of control He hadn't for a while, but it was possible. That's why Megan Graham had never told him that his aversion to crosses was all in his mind, and he need not cower from them. How else could they control him when he went off the deep end?

And Maggie seemed to have a perverse tendency to make him go off the deep end...

She hoped that she could stop her before that.

She should not have gone along with Maggie's veiled request to get poison from Julia. It was not so much fear of the FBI man remembering, as desire to goad Barnabas. Maggie knew what it do to Julia, and she knew what that would do to Barnabas...

Fortunately Barnabas had had more sense than the two of them then, and the whole business had ended. All that happened was that Barnabas had made it very clear to Maggie that she no longer held power over him.

But Maggie did not want to believe. it...

* * *

"Where is Yolanda?" Peter asked. "She was supposed to come."

"She left town. She said that there was some family trouble, and that she'd let me know when it was done."

"When will she be back?" he insisted, feeling lost.

"It is difficult to tell." Iris believe in telling the truth, always. "It may take long. She said what she will call us when it is done."

"So she left us... Was it because I was bad?"

"No, it was not your fault." Iris rushed to reassure him. "It has noting to do with you."

It had been unwise to let Peter become so attached to Yolanda. Now that she had to leave, he was lost.

* * *

Had she been too harsh when she had condemned Liz and Carolyn when she had talked to Martha?

No. Liz was no naive person, dragged into something she could not understand, against her will,, and surviving as best she could figure out. She knew what mistakes newly born vampires made, when they could get no information nor what to do. And still, they managed to make the best ethical choices they could in their befuddled condition.

Liz knew what she was getting into. She had _paid_ for it to happen. And it was not as if she did not have information. There were three vampires she could ask questions. In fact, Derek had given her some written info, along with the name and address of the supplier for his dried blood.

Liz could have used the supplier. She could have come talk to Megan and asked what to do. She could have confided in her cousin Barnabas.

Instead, she depended on Carolyn and Roger to hold the unwilling maids so that she could prey on them..

All the work that she had done trying to establish a place where vampires could be part of the general population., with the same rights as obligations as the rest of them, could have been destroyed. That it had not been was due to the people already knowing what the Collinses were like, and seeing Liz' behavior as more of the same.

Same arrogance. Same secrecy, Same unwillingness to play by the rules. Liz had not called on Derek's supplier. Why not? Probably because Derek was tacky, and his supplier was bound to be too tacky for the refined Collinses. She had not called on Megan, because Megan was too notorious a woman and not in awe of the Collinses at all.

What the Collinses needed was a swift kick in the butt.

Well, at least she had made a human being out of Barnabas... It took some doing, but eventually he saw the point and got off his Collins high horse. And now she was about to do it to the rest of the Collins family.

Carolyn had not been amenable at first to granting Martha's terms for her retuning to teach Edmund: a written apology and the understanding that Edmund would come to her cottage to be taught, and that she did not need to set foot in Collinwood ever again. But Carolyn had seen reason and backed away.

Perhaps being taught along with the village children would keep Edmund from believing that he was of a different species that the villagers.. Perhaps.

In the meantime, Martha's sworn statement about her assault by Adam could provide ammunition in the next skirmishes.

She was the Collins worst nightmare. Someone who could see them for what they were, and who was not charmed by them. Somebody who did not secretly yearn to be part of their magic world of privilege.

She was no Barnabas, that could be made to return to the fold by a few pleasant words from Carolyn. She was no Tony Peterson, whose crusading zeal died when offered a job with a big firm. She was no George Patterson who could be unseated by a carefully chosen candidate who promised to leave the Collinses alone. She was no Dave Woodard, forced by his own secret to move too carefully to be effective. She was no Burke Devlin, whose only objection to the Collins privileges was that he did not share of them.

She would turn them all into human beings, one way or the other.

It was then that the telephone rang.

It was Phillip. She knew it the moment she picked up the phone. How had se made herself forget it?

She knew why. She knew that unless he contacted her she could do nothing. So she thought of other things...

"Are you in trouble, Phillip? Let me help you. Do you want me to reach Barnabas?"

"No, not him. Please."

It was Phillip. No doubt about it. Megan could hear her own heart beating..

"Megan, I am in terrible trouble."

"I can help you, you know that."

"I am in bad trouble. I can't tell you over the phone."

"Where are you? I will go to you."

"No... I can't"

"I promise that I won't tell anyone where you re. I'll go there myself. Let me see you. Let me try to help you."

Phillip whimpered. Something shook in Megan. It sounded so much like that time after Roxanne had attacked him.

"Phillip, listen, Phillip. I only want to help you. You know what I can do. Don't you know that?"

"Yes... I do."

"I have to know what the problem is. Will you at least meet me?"

Phillip hesitated for a few seconds, while Megan clutched the receiver, afraid of Phillip hanging up again.

"I am at Seaview Terrace. Old Caleb Collins' place."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Phillip?" she asked in the abandoned house. "Phillip?"

The place was dark. It did not bother her, But how could Phillip be here without any light? And it had no running water, either. True, the Old House did not have much in the way of modern conveniences, but a way had been found around that. Here...

Yet Phillip had told her that he was here...

"Phillip!" she called again "Phillip!"

"Here" a voice answered. :"I am here, Megan."

There was someone in the room with her. Phillip? It sounded like him. But it did not feel like him.

There was a small light, as if somebody had struck a match. But there had been no sound of a striking match, or the odor that came when the head ignited. And the hand that held it was not a man's hand.

She jumped away. "Who are you? What do you want?""

Yolanda lifted her hand and pointed it to Megan. "You fool." she laughed. "You fell for it."

"Yolanda Over..." Suddenly she could not speak anymore. She was paralyzed as a glow enveloped her.

"You interfered once with my plans. "Yolanda said. "So now I am removing you from circulation."

Megan felt herself lifted by some unseen force and laid down horizontally, hanging in the air.

She felt Yolanda's hands on her temples. She would have shivered and gagged, except that she was incapable of such movement. I was painful, and it felt like her mind was being drained of knowledge.

Yolanda laughed again. "Well, what do you think of me? Do I look like you? Of course, you can't tell me and then you cannot see the resemblance, since you can't use a mirror."

She now looked exactly like Megan. She laughed, shaking her hair. Her voice, her movements were Megan's too. And she knew all that Megan knew.

* * *

Barnabas was going to talk to Maggie. There was no help about it. Sort of kidnapping him, or her, the two would meet.

What disaster was brewing there? George did not doubt for any moment that a disaster would come. Why couldn't those two do the sensible thing and avoid each other?

He thought of calling Sabrina, who he suspected feared the same thing and organize a double kidnapping. Not to be released until they both swore over a stack of Bibles to treat each other as if they were plague carriers.

"Let's see what happens now. " he thought resignedly.

* * *

Yolanda studied herself on the mirror. She could not find any flaw in her appearance. To all intents and purposes she was Megan Graham. She opened her mouth. She had fangs, if only for show. She would not use them... or no, maybe she would use them at first to allow the stones to feed. She touched them with he tongue. They felt like the real thing.

She had to try the disappearing bit. People expected it of Megan, and with the stones she could manage it.

She concentrated hard. Her face in the mirror lost definition, but did not vanish. She gave it up. She would need more practice later.

That would not be hardest part of her disguise. It would rather be Angelique.

She had learned from Megan's mind what she and Angelique did in bed, what she might be expected to do.

She would _not_ indulge in such perversions! My God, it was disgusting! And that... that dyke had cheated her of her inheritance, and probably helped murder Uncle Schuyller.

Yet, she would need to deceive Angelique until she was ready to strike.

At least for the moment Angelique was away. She would not have to worry about it for a while.

Now she had to deal with Barnabas. And that mean the kid, Urien.

It would be very satisfying to have Barnabas' adopted son for a slave.

Urien was not difficult to entice. he was young, with a strong sex drive, and more than willing to experiment with heterosexuality. And she knew that there was no fear of complications from Megan.

She led him into Megan's cottage, and offered him a drink while she undressed slowly. He looked at her as she undressed. Wow!, he thought. She was real hot.

His heart thumped. Barnabas could not object to this, he thought. He had been warned about exploiting others, but could anyone exploit Megan Graham?

She was stunning. So much, that she barely remembered to take off his own clothes.

Her lips were at his throat and this excited him. The points of her fangs sent shivers up and down his spine. This was good! This was the best he ever had!

There was a slight piercing pain, then the flood of blood, the then a burning...

The burning... it grew from a small spot to his jaw and shoulder. It climbed up to his temples and sunk to his heart. And he could not move.

"Urien Collins." he heard her voice from far away "Do you hear me?"

"Yes. I hear you."

"You will do as I say. Without hesitation nor questioning."

"I will... I will do as you say."

* * *

Maybe sometime during the trip Maggie would change her mind. Maybe she would have the sense to bring in a cross. Maybe...

Maybe pigs would fly.

Sabrina knew that she all trip to convince Maggie not to meet Barnabas.

She also knew that it would be waste of time.

Grimly, she prepared herself to fix the mess that those two created.

* * *

Urien could not understand it. How come Megan could move during the day? She should be as unconscious as Barnabas was.

But it was not to him to question, Urien acknowledged. He was to do as he was told, even if it made no sense.

Then he saw her. She did not look like Megan at all. She had somehow change her appearance for this. But it was her, all right.

"Let me in." she said to him.

He did. He did not understand any of it, and suddenly he was afraid.

"What are you going to do to him?"

"The same think I'll do to you if you say another word."

"You... You are _not_ Megan Graham."

She only shrugged. "Take me to him."

He did. He could do nothing else.

She studied Barnabas, licking her lips.

"Well, Mr. Collins, it is time that we settled old accounts."

She took her penknife and made a small cut under his ear, the pushed the stone into it, as she had done with the cats.

Then wound closed itself over the stone.

This will make you hungry. Very hungry. But you know what to do about it, don't you?"

Urien still stared, afraid.

"Go out." she ordered him. "And forget what happened here."

* * *

The house had not changed, Maggie thought. Maybe it was her.

The memories had worn off, and had no power to hurt her.

She could even look at it with a certain fondness.

Maybe Sabrina was right. She unwilling to let go of the past, and risked falling into obsessive behavior.

But it disconcerted that Barnabas had stopped apologizing for it. She thought he would be doing so forever, and now he said that he had a right to get on with his life.

Had she granted it? No, he had just seized it...

Well, it had been her fault for the way she had exploited it, and made him to agree to things that he felt strongly against. "Tanto va el cantaro a la fuente, que al fin se rompe." as the Spanish say "The jug goes to the fountain so much, that at the end it breaks"

And yet she wished she could go over it again. Why? It would not make better sense now than it did the first five hundred times she tried to come to grips with it...

She studied the fireplace. Josette's portrait was no longer there. He had moved it away after one emotional scene with Vicky (she was not sure what actually had happened, she had heard two or three different versions of it already) Whatever it was, Barnabas had decided that it was time to banish that reminder of the past to a less prominent place. It was still in the house, but it was just one more painting.

"Are you sure that you want to wait for him here?" Urien asked her.

"Yes. He said that he had business to talk about and I want to do it as quickly as possible."

"He's hungry when he wakes up."

"I am willing to feed him in exchange for his time. It would not be the first time it happened."

"If you don't mind it..."

"I don't mind it."

He reminded her of Willie, in a way. Was that why Barnabas had adopted him? There was something in Barnabas that made him unwilling to go of the past...

She looked at her watch. it was a bit too early, wasn't it? Oh, well, she could raid his library and liquor cabinet.

A glass of brandy in her hand she inspected the title on the shelves. She thought that she must look like Roger did in his day. Straight, pompous, liquor in his hand, surveying the place with a proprietary air.

Well, Roger had changed. So had she.

The sun was setting. She was aware of it, and that soon the candles would have to be lit.

She had not seen Barnabas for quite a while. They had parted bitterly. Would he remember that now? or would he instead remember Josette? Or would he do neither, concentrating on the business at hand?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Maggie" he said.

She turned to face him.

She could sense the tension. So did he. Part of him winced at it. To be still taken after all he knew about her. Didn't he know better than this?

Yet, when he spoke the awe was still in his voice.

Maggie smiled slightly "You said that you had business to discuss."

He nodded She saw him regain control of himself so that his calf eyes became normal and his voice became businesslike.

"It has to do with organizing a service, even on a volunteer basis for local teenagers for projects that may be short of funds. They get the work done and the kids would get the experience, and that, in the long run would be more valuable than the money they could make selling hamburgers at McDonald's"

She nodded It sounded interesting "Are you hungry"?" she asked.

"Yes, but it can wait." he was feeling quite hungry. Last night he had risked going too far, with his mind somewhere else. But he had made himself stop and no harm had been done. With Maggie it was not just hunger but the unresolved issues between them... That awakened a longing that somehow translated itself as hunger..

"I think that this is going to take long, so why not take it from me and get it over with?"

He winced involuntarily. So she still had that effect on him.

He was aware of his reaction and was angry with himself for it. Why should Maggie be different from the rest? He did not owe her anything, not after she had had him deep-sixed. And she did not remind him of Josette now.

George was right. He was a damn fool where Maggie was concerned.

He could not avoid touching her for this. He had to hold her in his arms. His hunger rose and he felt a beating under his right ear.

He bit her and began swallowing. Oh, he was hungry, indeed. And he still wanted her, in spite of all his protests.

He managed to pull away from her in self-disgust. Why did he insist in being a sucker for her? Didn't he know any better by now?

She smiled defiantly at him as if she had just scored a point. She was pale, maybe a bit too pale..

She moved away a few wobbly steps.

And she collapsed.

* * *

Megan hung in mid-air, enveloped in the glow that immobilized her.

She knew that dawn had come. And dusk again. The spell that held her also protected her against sunlight. She did not even get sleepy as she should with the approach of the day.

She was angry with herself for falling into a trap so easily. Could she be deceived like that? And by Yolanda Oveerton?

And she was scared too. Why had Yolanda spared her life? Not out of compassion, evidently. She had something in store for her.

To have let Yolanda fool her. She had looked so distraught, so scared after that business with Zachary. Give her another chance, Barnabas had pleaded, and she had gone along with it. She should have let Angelique fix her for good.

What would Yolanda do to Angelique? She was next on her list. And Barnabas was in it, too, for he had been the one who had killed Schuyller Rumsen.

And she was helpless to aid any of them.

Damn it! She was indulging in self-pity. She should not do it. She should concentrate in finding a way to get free.

But how? She could not move in any way. Was this what Barnabas had felt when he was in the chained coffin?

She had to attract someone to free her. She had contact with all those she had bitten...

But the contact was not there. Yolanda had seen to it.

Yet she could still call, could still attract someone and when she did he would find a way to free herself.

* * *

"What did you do to her?" Sabrina asked him shrilly "What...did...you... do... to... her?"

"I did not realize that I was taking that much." he could only say "I did not think that I was being careless. I..."

"You did not think. That's the problem." Sabrina said with asperity "You just don't think. How am I going to explain this to the newspapers?"

"Tell them that she is down with some virus or other. Or maybe hypoglycemia. Or an anaphylactic reaction, or..."

Sabrina began to shake her head, as if saying that Barnabas was a hopeless case, but did not "Anaphylactic reaction. Mmm... maybe an allergy. I _do_ have to tell them something you know."

"I wish I could help more. I am sorry."

"Oh, well, it is not really your fault. I warned her that this might happen." she shook her head, as if not believing the amount of human stupidity going around. :"I guess that it will be better if you two keep your distance from now on."

"I still want to talk to her about this project."

Sabrina sighed. "Just tell me what it is, and I'll make sure that she does it. Just keep away from her, will you? Now get out of here before I send you back to Parallel Time."

* * *

She studied herself critically again. Did she _really_ look like Megan Graham? Or would anyone be able to tell the difference? The face in the mirror betrayed no flaws to her.

The door opened behind her.. For a half second she tensed up, then relaxed again. Whoever it was, expected to meet Megan Graham and she would have the chance to test her disguise.

It was Joe Haskell, come to consult on a case.

"Yes, Joe?' she asked without turning.

"I do have some questions about the man you wanted tailed and..." he did not finish. He stared at he mirror in front of him.

A mirror in Megan's home.

And Megan's reflection on the mirror.

Yolanda did not know what the matter was, but she could sense the change in Joe.

"I hope that I am doing this right.:" Joe said, while going for his gun.

"What's the matter with you?" She was certain that he had seen through his disguise.

"Don't move!" Joe pointed the gun at her. "Who are you? What have you done with her?"

"I took care of her. And I will take care of you, too."

He shot her. The bullet hit her and she fell.

Joe looked down. Was she dead? She did not move, lying in her own blood. And it was just lead bullets in HIS gun..

Then the doubt hit him. Suppose that _was_ Megan, that she had been somehow freed from his curse and was trying to surprise him and...

No, she had not said that. She had threatened him instead..

Yolanda felt his hesitancy. And she also felt a throbbing as the stone she was carrying fed on her blood. It may kill her yet...

With an effort of will she began to draw power from the stone, instead of passively allowing it to drain her.

Joe moved closer to study the better and to get some idea of what to do next.

With one hand she grabbed his ankle, and with the other his gun hand, and pulled him down, as she pulled herself up.

She stood now over him, with the gun. Blood was still flowing from her, but only a trickle now. Her eyes glinted dangerously and she opened her mouth to show her carefully crafted fangs.

Joe screamed as she bit him. And screamed again as the stone burned him as it feed on him greedily.

The stone was bright red now. Joe did not scream anymore. He stared numbly at Yolanda and whimpered.

"How did you know I was not her?" she asked.

"Your reflection. I say you reflected in the mirror.

Of course! How could she had been so stupid? Vampires have no reflection. Megan Graham was not supposed to have a reflection.

She _had_ to remember things like these.

"All right, Joe" she told him. "that is your name, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"You are going to help me Joe. You are going to tell me all that I need to know so that no one else can tell. and you'll do anything I ask you to."

Joe nodded. He had to.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"So you are going to Wyncliffe now?" George asked as he undressed.

"Yes. For one thing Julia has a case that she wants to discuss with me. And then, it will keep me away from Maggie."

"You know, I always grumble when you have to stay there., but now I am glad. Keeps you out of trouble with Sabrina. She scares me, that one."

"I am sorry that I lost control with Maggie." he kissed George lightly on the cheek. "She has that effect on me. I guess my guilt feelings have not left me when it comes to her."

"You _have_ to get hold of yourself with her. You can't go on with her like this forever."

The spot on Barnabas' ear began to throb, and inexplicably he felt hunger. He should not. He had fed already, and had felt the temptation to go overboard, but he had gotten hold of himself. But now...

"You think that Maggie and Sabrina might have something together?'

George tenses dup. "What do you mean?'"

'Like us. I mean. They have such a rapport those two..."

George cursed. "You want to get yourself killed, is that it?"

"What?"

"When will you learn? Can't you get into your head that Maggie is _darngerous_? That she is looking for an excuse to get rid of you for real? Gossiping about her sex life is a death sentence. She traces one such rumor to you, and the next think Sabrina will be using a stake and hammer on you.."

"But..."

"This is not what Maggie wants discussed, true or not. And she's willing to kill to keep it that way. You'd be safer playing Russian Roulette than speculating about what is none of our business. You'd be safer swimming with sharks. You'd be safer juggling sticks of dynamite. You'd be safer playing as to how long you can stay up as dawn comes. If you have a death wish, just tell me, and I'll accommodate you. I still got silver bullets and if you really want it, I will do it."

Barnabas looked so contrite that George decided to cut short his lecture.

"Come, let's forget about them."

The throbbing was still in him. He could not be hungry. he had had his fill already. It had to be something else. Arousal? No, that could not be. Never before had he experienced this throbbing and gnawing inside.

What could it be? He remembered how it had been with Maggie... It had felt just like this.

Did Maggie affect his so much then? After all those years, after all the changes that they had gone through...

The throbbing had become a burning and his ears were beginning to buzz. He felt himself clasped tightly in George's arms. He drew closer to him and closed his eyes...

His mouth was over George's shoulder, his throat...

The throat was willing, and his own mouth was open. the teeth cut the flesh and then he was drinking, easing the gnawing inside him.

"Barnabas?" George said. "you've never done this before."

Barnabas let go. He did not know what to say.

George was pale, quite paler than he had been. As if... as if he had taken too much. And he had no control over it. It had seized him them moment his lips had touched George's flesh and sensed the pulsing under the skin.

"I always wondered what it would feel like." George said, touching his throat.

Barnabas just stared numbly at the blood still trickling down the small wounds.

* * *

Joe watched her as she worked on the food that she had ordered him to bring. Her fangs make chewing difficult, as the food tended to get caught it them. They certainly were not designed for this kind of work.

"What more do you want?" There was fear in Joe's words and something else. Something he had not felt in years.

"I'll tell you when you need to know it."

"What did you do with Megan?"

She shrugged "Why do you care?"

"Did you kill her?"

"No. But I might later."

"Why are you doing this?

She patted him on the cheek. "None of your business, dear."

He shivered. She sensed his fear and knew what it was. Once he had met a powerful, ruthless woman who had used him. He had loved her desperately, and she had thrown him over.

Angelique then... Yolanda now. No, he did not love her, not yet. But she could make it happen with those stones of hers.

"You love me, don't you?" Yolanda asked teasingly.

Tears formed in Joe's eyes. He did not mean to love her. But she could do it to him, anyway. And it would be as it had been with Angelique...

* * *

"Julia, can I talk to you?"

Julia looked up at Barnabas "You got a problem? And is it personal or professional?"

"Personal. But I would like your opinion on it."

"What is it about?"

"Me and Maggie."

"You want to know why you lost your head with her?"

"And then it happened again with George."

"George? But he's not in the hospital. He is up and about."

"I'd had fed before I went to him. But it was like that. Suddenly I was doing it, and I had not known that I had started, and I would not have known when to stop."

"You were in bed together when it happened?"

"Yes. We were... making love and I was kissing him and then, the next thing I knew, I was drinking as if it was going out of style."

"You had no warning about it?"

"I had some. I felt something like hunger, but it could not be, because I had already fed."

"But evidently it was hunger."

"Then my ears were throbbing. It was almost painful. It kept irritating me."

"And after you had drunk, did your ears throb?"

"No."

Julia was intrigued now. "Did you feel that throb in you ears before?"

Barnabas thought back over the years.

"I can't recall my ears throbbing. Or at least, throbbing when I was hungry."

"Curious."

"I thought that it had to do with Maggie being back. She can affect me still. After all, I attacked her. And George is not a stranger. For some reason I may have seen him as Maggie and maybe it all comes from the unresolved conflict we have."

Julia could not keep from grinning listening to him spout that jargon.

"Before we get into that I'd like to give you a physical examination. Basically, I'd like to examine your ears."

"But how could anything in my ears make me hungry?"

"I'll take a look, and maybe I can tell you."

She took out her instrument and used it to look into Barnabas' ears.

"I can's see anything out of the ordinary in this ear." she said. "let's try the other."

Barnabas turned his head around, and as he did, his ear began to throb.

He was hungry again.

Julia bent her head in his direction and he felt his lips pulling back.

"No!" she pushed her back and got up as fast as he could.

"Barnabas!" she reproved him.

"You... you are pregnant." he said. "I can't risk it.."

"What's the matter?" But she knew already what the matter was.

He moved to the other end of the room, aware of the blood coursing through her veins, of the heart beating in her body, pushing the blood through with each contraction.

"Don't come near me, Julia!" he pleaded. "Get a cross, do something to protect yourself! I am not safe, don't you understand?"

He moved to the door. He had to have blood now, and it could not be hers.

Jake was outside, smoking. He tried to hide the cigarette when he saw Barnabas, but Barnabas did not care for that now. Jake was big and strong, and definitively not pregnant. He could take blood from him safely. And he did, in spite of Jake's protests.

Then he let him go.

"Why did you do that?" Jake complained "What's the matter with you?"

"I don't know what's the matter with me. I am sorry that I had to hurt you."

He helped Jake to his feet and led him to Julia's office.

"You take care of him, doctor." he said grimly "at least you and your baby are safe now."

Julia tended to Jake as Barnabas moved away.

"where are you going?"

"I don't know. I am not safe to be around anymore. I think that I'd better stay in the woods, away from everybody until I decide what to do with myself."

And before she could say anything, he was gone.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Willie looked worried as Julia explained what had happened to Barnabas.

"And that's the last you heard of him."

"Yes. He might be in the woods."

"Look, Julia." Willie hesitated "Maybe that's best for him. If he's out of control, he should not be around people. You said that he almost went for your throat in your condition. And Jake needed a full day of rest."

Julia stared at Willie, as if not believing what she heard.

"Hell, don't look at me that way." Willie protested "As if I was a traitor or something."

"He's a friend."

"Yes. But I got a wife and a small child. If Barnabas is out of control I want him away from them He would tell you the same thing. I do not want to risk Pearl's life. And neither would he."

"And you think that he'll just keep away from people all by himself?"

"He would."

"And he might not. And what if he gets so depressed that he decides to wait for the dawn?"

"He's got a coffin in the caves, well hidden."

"That's not the problem. What if he chooses not to go there?"

"He wouldn't"

"In the state that he's in he might. You got to find him. You got to tell him that he should allow us to try to help him."

* * *

It was a temptation to wait for the dawn. It would solve all his problems.

But that was only a hysterical reaction. Granted that his situation was serious, it was not hopeless. Whatever it was that made him so unbelievably hungry there was no reason why it could not be solved. He had known worse.

But in the meantime he had to keep away from people. There were plenty of deer and wolves and bear... He could make it.

* * *

Willie hung the deer that he had shot by its legs and began butchering it using a bucket to catch the blood. If Barnabas was around, the smell of it would bring him in. Then he would try to reason with him.

Of course, Barnabas might not be around this part of the woods. Or he might have already fed.

Yet this was the best idea he could come up with. He knew better than to look for him without a large bleeding deer to offer. If Barnabas went out of control and attacked him on a cold night like this, he might get pneumonia and medical bills as you wouldn't believe.

If it did not work today, he'd come back tomorrow. And he'd begin recruiting others to do it. Like Frank Torrance or Kenneth..

There was a rustle of wings.

"Barnabas? Is this you?"

There was no answer.

"Look, Barnabas, you can have the blood. I just want to talk to you."

Again no answer. He wondered if it was really Barnabas in there. Maybe it was just coyotes, or wolves. or.. a bear... Well, he had brought this gun along, too.

Then he heard the footsteps.

"Come Barnabas. I know that you are hungry. I only want to talk to you."

The footsteps moved towards the deer, hesitatingly.

"Come, I brought it for you."

Barnabas appeared in front of him. "Hello, Willie." he said, a bit ashamed.

"Take it, and then we'll talk,"

Barnabas nodded. He wanted to tell Willie much, but the hunger was to great. He just went to the bucket and began drinking the half-coagulated blood, gathering it with his hands, and lifting them to his mouth.

He looked so hungry and miserable that Willie could not watch him.

Barnabas made small satisfied sounds as he drank. His sleeves were becoming stained, but there were other stains there already, from all the hunting that he had already done.

Willie shook his head, but he could not say anything until Barnabas was again able to talk.

"Thanks, Willie." he said, simply.

"I talked with Julia." Willie said quickly "She's worried about your. She's afraid that you might..."

"Do myself in?" Barnabas asked with a bit of irony.

"She's worried." he repeated.

"I am not desperate enough to kill myself. I got too much to live for. But if it is safer if I am not around people until this clears up..

"She says that it might not clear up by itself. She says that it might get worse."

"I can't let her examine me. I..." his voice lost control "I am not safe to be around her. And she's pregnant. it is probably her last chance to have a baby. The risk is too great."

"It does not have to be her. Let Kenneth do it. You cannot go on like this."

Barnabas did not answer. The hunger in him had stilled, yet he knew it to be a momentary respite. In a few hours it would be raging through him again.

Willie did not understand this silence. He moved towards Barnabas.

"Don't come too close to me, Willie." he warned. "I don't know what might happen if you do."

"Nonsense!" Willie clasped Barnabas and shook him. "You just fed. You are in control of yourself."

"I am dangerous now."

"You are panicking. And giving in to self-pity. I know you better than you know yourself. And I won't have it." He kept shaking Barnabas "I am your friend. I care for you, and I will not let you destroy yourself. "

"But what can you do?"

"I can keep talking to you until you decide to let us help you. Not Julia if that bothers you. But your are not going though it alone, hoping that it will go away by itself."

"Willie, you don't understand."

"I will keep coming back here until you come to your senses. You may not want to talk to me, but I'll come all the same. And the only blood I'll bring will be the one inside me."

"Willie!" Barnabas was shocked.

"Yes, Barnabas. Call it emotional blackmail. I will come here and risk your attacking me. And risk your taking too much until you come back to your senses. And if anything happens, it will be on your head, because you would have prevented it by being reasonable in the first place."

"Willie, you don't understand."

Willie sat down on the ground and looked at Barnabas with both pity and anger. "I will do it to keep you from destroying yourself. I understand how you feel, but you are going at it the wrong way. And I cannot let you do this to yourself."

"Willie, it has to be this way."

"No! This is exactly the way it should not be. Think for a moment. What happens if there are campers, or hikers in the woods? Or if a child is lost? It does happen, you know. What happens if it is you who finds him? What happens if George has to look for the missing child and knows that he might have to shoot you to save the child? He's too good a cop to do otherwise. Do you want to force that on him? Have you any idea what that will do to him?"

"I love him." Barnabas said. "And what you said will not happen. I'll make sure it doesn't. I just have to stay away for a few days, no more. And I have to keep away from him, or I might drink too much from him.

"You are not making things easier by acting this way."

"I can't go back into town. I can't risk other people that way."

Willie rolled up his sleeves and opened his collar. "Here." he offered Barnabas. "Take it, go at it."

Barnabas stepped back. "Don't do this, Willie."

"You agree to come back with me or you go ahead and bite me. Do I get your word? Do you come back with me?"

"Willie, please."

Willie made a small cut in his arm and let Barnabas see the flowing blood.

Barnabas shivered, then vanished.

"I will keep coming back like this." Willie promised.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"You went overboard,." Julia commented.

"I know. I pushed him too hard. "Willie admitted.

"You must have scared him."

"Yes. I know. But you did not see him, and I did. He was kneeling on the ground, bending over the bucket, lapping the blood like a dog... I just could not see him that way. I just _had_ make him see reason."

"Well, it might have worked, I grant you. But it may also made him run away from you."

"I know. I should have been more subtle. Used more psycho logic, but I am not good at this sort of thing..."

"It just hurt you too much to see him like this..."

"Yes."

* * *

Peter wandered outside. The sun was shining. It was warn and pleasant...

But he could not care less. All that he knew what that Yolanda was not there.

The butterflies fluttered around him, a frog jumped a few steps away... He did not see any of it.

All he sensed was a great emptiness inside him.

If only Yolanda would come back...

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me what was going on?" George shouted angrily at Julia, It was the same tone in which he interrogated his prisoners, only harsher.

"Why did you keep me in the dark about it? Why you let me believe that there was noting wrong?"

"It was... safer..."

"Safer?"

The amount of human stupidity was staggering. And he was facing a large amount now...

"Barnabas attacked you when you were in bed together."

"He didn't precisely attack me."

"He just bit and drank without even being aware that he was doing. He barely managed to realize what he was doing and stopped himself."

"How do you know? He told you?"

"Yes. It scared him to be so out of control."

"So he got carried away ..."

"And when I was examining him, he went for my throat."

"So you told me."

"He stopped himself, but to do that, he had to attack Jake. I saw him do it, and I never saw him so desperate before."

"And that's when you decided to call on Willie for help."

"It was the best idea I could come up with."

"Well, doctor, your best ideas stink. You could have told me the moment he disappeared. Instead you called Willie, who came up with half-baked scheme, that, as you tell, managed to freak out Barnabas. It might well that Willie pushed Barnabas to the point of killing himself... and in the meantime he is roaming free, which makes him a hazard to anybody who is out in the woods after dusk."

"We though it best."

"Well, it wasn't. Sometimes I wonder what it is with a University education that makes people stupid. The smart thing to do would be to call on me. After all, I know how to conduct a proper manhunt. I know how to talk sense into him. And I am willing to shoot tranquilizer darts at him... With enough dosage they 'drop him. Instead you let Willie come up with bright ideas..."

"We thought..."

"Well do not think any more. I am now in charge."

* * *

Practice, practice, practice... She had to get the mirror trick right before Angelique came back. And the vanishing trick. And turning into a bat and...

No, whatever the cost, she would to get in bed with Angelique. She would find a way around it.

Maybe she could keep Angelique away longer. Send her in some wild goose chase... She had Megan's knowledge of her cases, and she could come up with a reasonable request that kept Angelique safely busy and away...

Yes, she would get Angelique back, because she should be here when retribution came calling. But not until she had learned how to vanish from the mirror, and all the other vampire tricks that she must learn to fake.

She stared at the mirror. Her image was still there, but more blurred. With a bit more work it should vanish completely.

* * *

"Are you sure that you want a small wedding?" Adam asked Carolyn.

"Yes. I already had my spectacular wedding."

"To Quentin,?"

"Yes. It was all for show. Quentin was never my husband, just a convenience. And it was convenient to me to have a spectacular wedding. Do I shock you, darling?"

"It sounds a bit... cold blooded."

"I was quite cold-blooded then. A real bitch, to tell the truth. Always trying to find a way to make life more difficult for Barnabas. I wonder who come he had so much patience with me."

Adam could not keep himself from scowling when he heard Barnabas' name.

"Do you have to keep talking about him?"

"You still hate him, don't you?"

"It is not an easy burden that he put on me. Damn it, he could have cared for me a bit! He could have given me some affection. It was not as if I wanted too much.."

Carolyn hugged him. "He was never a father to you, is that it?"

"Yes. And then I hear how he adopted a street kid, and how loving and kind he is to him... to him he is a good father. But to me? Who was I? Less than nothing. A trash can where he dumped the less lovely parts of himself."

"He's changed since then. Now maybe he could be a good father to you."

"Now I am not interested. And what kind of answer is that? That people do change?"

"Well, they do. Look at Roger. He was an awful father to David. David does not want to see him. He will visit Barnabas, but not Uncle Roger. But Roger is proving to be a devoted father to Edmund. I guess we all get second chances, but not with he same people."

"Well, and where does that lave me?"

"It leaves you as my husband. And a person he needs to placate if he wants anything at the Old House."

Adam said nothing. He felt anger fill him, and he had trouble holding it back.

* * *

"You don't have to come with me." George told Willie.

"Barnabas is my friend. It is the least I can do for him."

"There is no need for you to come."

"Why?" Willie said defiantly "Just because I don't screw him does not mean that I care less for you than you do."

"You have a small daughter, Willie." George said mildly "You owe it to her not to take unnecessary risks. I am paid to take risks. And I have a duty." is voice became low and painful now. ""As much as I love him, if he became a menace I would get silver bullets in my gun and go looking for him. I want Barnabas out of there before I have to make that choice. And I don't want you exposing yourself to danger. Your safety is my responsibility too. Don't put me into a position where I will have to choose between your life and his."

"I still want to help look for him. You could deputize me."

"I could, but I won't. I owe it to Louella and Pearl not to."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

George stood alone in the middle of the woods.

"Barnabas!" he called "I know that you are around. I know that you can hear me." he touched his throat. "I can feel my link with you. So don't pretend that you don't know that I am here. I deserve better than this from you."

Barnabas watched him, anguish rising in him. Why didn't George leave? Didn't he understand what could happen to him? Why couldn't they understand that it had to be this way?

"Barnabas!" George's voice was plaintive now. "Do you want me to start hunting for you with silver bullets? Do you want to force that on me?"

Barnabas kept watching him. He fought to restrain himself. If he got any closer, he'd go for George's throat and that would be it. He would not be able to stop in time.

Please, George - he thought at him. ' please leave, don't stay here. I can barely control myself.

He focused all his will power on George. Make him go. He could be stronger in this.

Then, as he finally forced George to go away, he felt the urge in him, the need to make him stay so that that he could calm his hunger on him.

He almost left in pursuit, thinking only of the blood beating in George's veins. But he did not. He still was in control of himself.

* * *

Tammy swore under her breath.

Just now Barnabas had to be missing. Just as she needed his opinion...

Sure, he was a pain. And his presumption that she should be a daughter to him was a bit too much... But when all was said and done, you could talk to him.

She did not have that many people that she could confide in. She had confided in Jake, expecting support, and now Jake was making demands on her, and accusing her of being a race traitor, because she had a white boyfriend.

She could not handle Jake's demands, not since they echoed some of her own misgivings..

Joe was off for the same reason. Joe would find a way to explain to her that it was all right for her to have a white boyfriend, namely him.

As for Megan's advice... She was well meaning but too cynical. She would probably mutter something about people making needless problems for themselves.

So that left Barnabas...

She had been close to Barnabas once. Hadn't he sent her to that old shaman when guilt over Buffy Duncan was eating her alive? He could help her now...

Sure, the fact that he was her great-great-great-great- grandfather hung between them. And she was the symbol of something she hated...

Something out of the past that had come terrifying to life...

Too much history separated them...

Yet now she wanted his help. And nobody knew where he was...

Now that she had to decide between Jake and Joe, there was no one to help her do the right thing.

* * *

"Do I have to go?' Urien made a face.

"Yes. Because if I can get Barnabas and bring him here, you should not be here. And you should take the cats with you. I don't want him using them for a quick snack."

"If he is in trouble, I want to help him."

"The best way that you can help him will be not to put yourself in a position where he can hurt you. If he did, it would devastate him."

"But, if, as you say, you are going to bring him here and make sure he does not leave the house, someone should take care of him."

"Yes. I will. First, I get paid to take this kind of risk. And second, and don't be offended, I can cheer him up better than you can. And third, while I may not be much of a parent to you, I still am one. You are my responsibility. I cannot let you do it."

Urien grumbled, but he would do as he was told and move in with he Loomises,. with cats in tow.

He worried a bit about the cats, if they would accommodate to being just indoors, and whether Willie and Louella would take care that they did not get out and attempted to return to the Old House.

Maybe he should put them in a kennel until it was all over...

Now the only thing he needed was to put the protective circle around the Old House, with only one opening that he would seal when Barnabas had gone in.

From watching Angelique and Sabrina he had learned to build the circle that a vampire could not cross (though it would not surprise him to find out that Megan had found a way around it... a way that she was too wise to share with unstable Barnabas and scatterbrained Derek...)

He had got hold of Derek's supplier. Dried blood was not ideal, but it was better than starving. And he could get the refrigerated kind from the slaughterhouse. Given the volumes that Barnabas might be needing, he'd better not try for human blood, not even contacting a blood bank

(He recalled once asking Megan if vampires used blood banks, The answer had been that they preferred not to. A blood bank left a paper trail and a paper trail was the enemy of anyone who might have to disappear and get off the grid at a moment's notice .)

Well, he had enough for starters. And with the thing that he had got from the SM shop, he was set.

All he needed now was Barnabas...

* * *

It still bothered him, the rage that threatened to explode in him. What would happen when it did?

Adam did not know the answer to it, but suspected that he would not like it any.

He had not felt such rage in years. He had always hated Barnabas. But to feel so murderous when he heard this name... He had put that behind.

Yet he had not.

Then it hit him. The portrait. Charles' portrait. His self restraint, his coolness, was not something that he had developed in his own. It had been Charles' gift, freely given and easily lost.

He had worked on his portrait trying to recapture his earlier self, his spontaneity, his wonder at the world around him. And trying to recapture it he had recaptured his rages, his furious reactions to those who thwarted him.

And he could not indulge in his anger. Carolyn had overlooked the attack on Roger, but had been less understanding of the incident with Martha Howard... And there would be more trouble ahead unless he could rein in his temper.

He needed to achieve self control.

He knew it at the intellectual lever. His body, his reflexes, did not.

So what could he do? Go over the portrait, fixing it again, and hoping that he did not do more damage in the process?

Or look for professional help. Like Julia Hoffman. And as he thought of his not-mother, fury filled him again.

He could feel his face flushed, his muscles taut, his teeth clenched. Damn it! He had no felt like this in years. Did he have to start at the beginning again?

If only Angelique were back, he could ask her what to do.

* * *

Hallie shifted on her seat. She was coming to Collinsport as David Collins' wife. To bear his children, to try to succeed where Laura had failed.

Laura. Was she tempting her fate, returning to the place where Laura had met with defeat at Barnabas Collins' hands?

"Are you still worried?" David asked her.

"No." she said, trying to sound sincere.

"You still worry about Barnabas, don't you?"

She said nothing. She did, but not in the sense that David meant.

"Barnabas told me something about that. Said that it had to do with what you used to be... before you were Hallie Stokes."

"Reincarnation, you mean?" she was careful to put a note of doubt in her voice.

"You don't seem to believe it."

"It is hard enough believing in vampires."

"Or phoenixes" David said, rising to Barnabas' defense, even before Hallie said anything that implied condemnation.

"I know." she sounded contrite. "Yet for some reason I am still afraid of him."

"Before you were Hallie Stokes you were Maude Browning."

"And he killed Maude Browning back in 1796."

She went pale saying this. From way back it came to her, his hands, the hardness of his teeth, the darkness closing over her eyes...

"That's done." David tried to reassure her. "It won't happen again. You have to learn to trust him."

Hallie considered it. She did not wish to be close to Barnabas. Not after what he had once done to her. Not after what he had done to Laura and could do to her, if he suspected what she really was.

But she sensed that Avid would not give up on it. He owed too much to Barnabas to cut him off, even for the sake of his wife.

And she needed David. At least until she had a child by him.

On the other hand, Barnabas had no reason to believe that she had become a phoenix. From what she understood his relationship with Frank and Buffy was a cordial one. He probably still felt guilty about Maude Browning. If she was careful enough, he would never suspect. He would probably bend over backwards to make things easier for her.

"You have to get to know him." David insisted "I was scared of him at first, too." Only in his case, he thought ruefully, his fear had been justified. "yet now I feel lucky that I know him. If it had not been for him, I do not know where I'd be."

"I'll try." she said. "It still seems scary to me, but I want to know him better."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"What do you mean, the car broke down?" Hallie asked nervously.

"It won't go anymore. We have plenty of gas. And it won't move. Damn it! And they asked for such a large deposit, too." frustrated David kicked the car. It did not good. The car refused to move.

"Now what?" Hallie asked.

"Now we walk until we find a service station."

"Walk? Here?" Hallie looked at the dark wood surrounding them.

"We are close enough to Collinsport and I know the way.

"It looks so.. so forbidding. Who knows what's in those woods..."

"Vampires, witches, and werewolves." David said cheerfully.

Hallie flinched at the words.

"No. There are no werewolves now. Chris is in Florida. and both Sandy and myself are cured of it. The witch is out of town. But there are three vampires around. If you see any bat flying, wave at it. If it is any of them, they'll be glad to lend us a hand. " he made a face. "Derek might want to be paid, but he will be happy enough if you place bets for him."

Hallie still looked around, not sure that it was safe.

Yes, she had her powers, and she could use them to protect herself. But how to keep David from noticing?

They walked, David leading with his flashlight.

"I know, these woods can be scary, but I used to play here as a kid."

"What about wolves or bears?"

"They usually keep away from people."

"I think I'd rather make a torch to be on the safe side."

This way she would have fire, and an excuse to be carrying it. David grumbled that it was not necessary, but she did it. A few branches tied together, some gasoline soaked rags, and matches, and she was set...

* * *

"Barnabas!" George was back, trying to talk sense into Barnabas. "I figured out a way that we can help you and that will be safe for everybody."

Barnabas had to come out for him, either to talk or to attack. He was ready for either.

"Barnabas! Stop acting like a spoiled child! Come and talk it over!"

Damn it, why did Barnabas have to be so pigheaded? When he got some idea in his head, even if it was a dumb one, he held on to it. He was not stupid, far from it, but he could make an awful muddle of things at times.

He could understand why he would panic this way. Self control had not come easily to him (actually it is difficult to develop self-control when you are busy freaking out). And he knew how many had died because he had no self-control (even if after the adventure of the ship he knew why those deaths had come to be.). To be out of control again must be the ultimate nightmare...

He had some idea of the pain and bewilderment that had come to him in 1796. He was not in control of his body. Some malevolent stranger was using it to commit foul deeds and all he could do was watch impotently...

...never mind that that was not the whole story, that's how he saw it. And that horror that he thought he had left behind was with him again...

So, he had panicked. Same way as he had panicked in 1796... And as in 1796, his panicking did not make things any easier for anyone.

And now they had to catch him before he started doing serious damage, before he forced them to kill him...

No, it would not come to that. He had talked to Megan, and while she said she had not run into such a case herself, very likely Verhoff had, and the best thing they could do was get him there as soon as possible.

If only Barnabas did not insist in acting like such a jerk...

At least this time it wasn't silver bullets. A good dose of tranquilizer dart would do the trick. He had tried it on Derek, and it had dropped him. He doubled the dose for Barnabas, to be on the safe side.

Only if it was a last resort he would use silver bullets, he promised himself.

But first he had to catch him...

* * *

He had forced himself to move away. Why had George come back for him? Why couldn't he understand?

The hunger was in him.

The throbbing in his ears as maddening him. George's voice was enough to make him lose control.. He missed George terribly. He missed everyone...

And that yearning turned itself into hunger...

He had to find a deer. Only a large animal like that could soothe him... But deer were so far away, and people so close...

He saw the light ahead of him. And he heard steps coming his way.

He should fly away. But he did not. He stood rooted to the spot, knowing what it would happen, but unable to change it...

...As it had been in 1796,,,

He could sense the blood beating in their bodies, and moved towards it.

David saw the shape approaching them.

"What did I tell you? Here is Barnabas." David ran to his cousin. "I am glad to see you. Or car broke down and Hallie's a bit scared but I told her that you'd help us."

Barnabas moved forward. He could barely think now. He was only aware of the blood beating in David's body... blood that he could get to so easily...

His ears burned and burned...

Hallie screamed.

"Let him go!" she shouted at him and pushed her torch in Barnabas' direction.

Barnabas held David tightly, drinking, drinking, barely aware of the blows that Hallie was giving him.

She had to use her powers before Barnabas killed David. David was unconscious soshe would not know what happened.. She touched the torch and let the power flow into her. She concentrated it and used it to hit Barnabas between the shoulder blades.

Barnabas screamed in pain and released David.

Hallie looked at David. Still alive and unconscious.. She looked at Barnabas. This was her chance to get rid of him.

She saw a branch pointing out. He pushed him in that direction. He would impale himself on that wood. Later when they found her, she would say that Barnabas was so distraught over what he had almost done that he had killed himself.

Barnabas looked at her, confused. His hunger was somewhat calmer, and he could recognize them. Could recognize what he had almost done.

"Barnabas!" George ran to them, attracted by Hallie's screams and the light of the torch.

Well, she could not kill Barnabas now, not with witnesses...

Barnabas was too stunned by what he had done that he did not try to vanish. He waited until George was with them.

"Oh, my God!" was George's only comment when he saw David on the ground. Then, before anything else, he shot Barnabas with the tranquilizer dart.

Barnabas dropped instantly, just as Derek had done the day before...

"How's David?" George asked Hallie.

"His pulse is weak, but steady... I had to hit Barnabas with the torch to make him release David... it worked... David trusted him, He said that he was going to help us..."

George shook his head. "He did not know. Something happened to Barnabas. His hunger is out of control. Can David stand?""

"I am not sure."

"We will have to carry him, then. And Barnabas, too."

The deputies came and took David away in a stretcher. Now he could handle Barnabas as he planned.

He handcuffed Barnabas hanging a cross from his wrists, then he took the leather gag that he had got at the SM supplier. No need to fuss with knots, just buckle it. behind the head...

Then he hung Barnabas arms from his neck, and more or less made him stand, and dragged him to his car.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Barnabas waited patiently inside for him to finish the barrier around the house. There was little else that he could do.

George went back in, went to the supplies and made a tall glass of blood from the dried stuff he had stored. He took it to Barnabas whose nostrils flared when he smelled it.

"Before you say anything, drink this." he told Barnabas, unbuckling the gag.

Barnabas drank greedily.

"Is that enough? Or you want more?'

"No. I am all right for the moment. I might want more later. But this won't work."

"Well, then I will explain to you what the setup is. Then you tell me that it won't work. First, David is going to be all right. But it might have ended differently. That's why your idea of hiding in the woods will not work. I am not going to give you another chance to screw up there. I do not want to find a newly made vampire that will need taking care of."

"I understand now that. Maybe I should just kill myself."

"Stop the suicidal talk. It is not so bad yet. Well, since your idea will not work, it is time to try mine."

"What is your idea?"

"First, Megan told us to call on Doctor Verhoff. He probably has run into cases like yours, and knows what to do abut them."

"And what if he says that there is not cure but death?"

"He's not here, so don't put words in his mouth."

'But what if?"

"Then I will do it personally. You know that. I can make it quick and painless, and I cannot trust anyone else to do it. "

"Thanks."

"Well, now that we got that out of our systems, I will continue to describe how it is going to be until a solution is found.. You notice that you cannot leave this house. This will keep you from trying anything stupid out there. There is plenty of dried blood that I got from Derek's supplier. The way you drank that glass shows that you do not have that many problems taking it. I may get you some fresh blood from the slaughterhouse in the battery powered refrigerator I put there" he pointed to it in a corner. "I know that you may need human blood now and then for balance, and I can get that to you, too. But at this moment your problem seems to be volume, and that I can deliver."

"Yes. that is the problem. I do not recall needing that much, ever."

"I will come in the daytime to deliver the supplies and the mail. " he continued. You can get on the phone to anyone if you get lonely and want to talk. You can write letters and organize the next Bread for the World campaign for Trask's congregation. That will keep you busy. You can write all the letters for prisoners of conscience you want for Amnesty International, and reading their stories may give you some perspective about your own problems."

"It probably will."

"You can pester your elected Representatives - I am not getting Maggie off the hook that easily, pushing for legislation.. Well, the same stuff you do all the time, only without leaving your house. Just phone and mail. It can be done."

"But I will still be alone... The cats are not here, are they?"

"We took them away. I don't think that you want to risk turning them into a snack. " He picked up the leather gag. " But as for lonely, that's what this is for. If you put it on, to make sure that you keep yourself under control, I can come in and keep you company. And whatever else."

Barnabas considered it. "I have no choice, do I?"

"None. Well, what do you say?"

"I missed you a lot, George."

"So did I."

"So put this thing on me and free my hands."

He did.

* * *

Yolanda wondered about Verhoff. She had had to give his name to Brant, he masquerade as Megan demanded it. She had gotten his name from her mind, and it had been in character for her to offer it. Megan herself had done the same where there had been the problem with Liz and Vicky's baby.

Well, when Verhoff came, she would find out how much she could control a vampire. Once she had control of him, the Verhoff would tell Barnabas what she wanted him to believe.

And then she would arrange for him and Angelique to pay, both of them. And then she'd deal with Megan...

She could use her to experiment on...

* * *

It had been strange making love like this. George could not suppress a twinge seeing Barnabas face half hidden by the gag. He did not like SM, and this was close to it.

But they all had to do things they did not like to get over this hump. And Barnabas needed to be touched and held more than anything else. Just cuddling together was something that he had been deprived of, and if being gagged was the only way to have, he was willing to do it.'

And George had to stop being squeamish about it.

That was not the worst. he remind himself.

The worst, and it might come to that, would be when he had to point this gun to Barnabas' heart and shoot a silver bullet into it.

But only after Verhoff told them that there was no hope. Not until then.

Reluctantly he got up to leave.

"I have to go." he told Barnabas. "Take care, and try to keep yourself busy when you are alone. Don't let your imagination run wild."

Barnabas watched him go, and once George was clear of the barrier outside he unbuckle his gag, and tried to see how he would spend the rest of the night...

It was not too late yet, so he went to the phone.

"Willie?" It is me, Barnabas."

"Barnabas?" Willie straightened up worried. "Where are you? What is going on with you now?"

"I am back home. Actually I am under house arrest. George made sure I cannot leave this place."

"Start at the beginning. Last time I saw you, you went back to the woods. How did George convince you to do it?"

"Show me with a tranquilizer dart. After I almost killed David."

He recounted the events of the night. Willie listened and sighed. Just as he had predicted..

"Good to know that David is going to be all right. But that was a dumb idea you had from the beginning."

"Yes. But I was scared, after I almost attacked Julia. I reacted instead of thinking."

"So what else is new with you? Serious, Barnabas, you can come up with some really stupid ideas sometimes."

"That's why Megan forbids me to interfere in her operations."

"Smart woman.. So how is it going to be with you now?"

Barnabas described what George had set up.

"Very smart. It will keep you out of trouble. And he's right. You keep yourself busy. You got enough to read? I can stop by later and drop magazines if you want. I know that you do not appreciate all those hunting magazines I have, but still, they are something to read."

"And the Playboy, too?" Barnabas asked mischievously.

"Louella is not supposed to know I read it. And anyway..."

"Anyway, you read it for the articles., I know."

"Hey, I am not perfect,... you know that."

"How's Louella and Pearl? I have not seen her for a while."

"They are fine." The answer was curt, and Barnabas noticed it.

"I am sorry Willie. No, I do not want to see Pearl again. Not until this is cleared up. You are right. You should worry about her while I am this way."

I


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Adam counted the bills before giving them to Quentin.

It burned Quentin to have to ask for help so soon. Getting robbed had not been in his plans. Now that his invulnerability was gone, he had to learn to be careful

"You think that this will be enough?" he asked with concern. "It can be tough, out there."

"I learned the heard way.." Quentin made a face. "I hope I can learn fast to survive."

"You will." Adam admitted with a smile. "Still, if you have any other problems, please let me know. Call me if anything."

"If I get in trouble bad enough I will. But I want to make it on my own." he made a face. "I should not accept money from you now. But the fact is that I need it."

"I feel a bit guilty about it." Adam admitted "I forced this on you."

"I had to come through it." Quentin said soberly "I have been wandering around and wasting my time since 1897. At last I have the chance to make something of myself. I don't intend to throw it away."

"I know people in New York who could help you. I show paintings there and they owe me favors."

"No. There is a limit to what you can do for me." he got up "Enough about me. What about you? Are you going to marry Carolyn?"

"In a couple of months. Even an uncontested divorce takes time to become final."

A mischievous look came to Quentin's face. "I could try to contest it still. Just to see your face."

"But you won't"

"No. Have you been working on your own portrait?"

"Does it show?"

"Yes. The change is subtle, but it is there. You are more... more boyish. And maybe more quick tempered."

Adam blanched at the words. More quick tempered.

If only Angelique came back. If he could talk to her about his short temper, about his attack on Roger, and his attempt to rough up Edmund's teacher. It scared him and he did not dare to retouch the portrait again.

But he had no business worrying Quentin about it.

"Quentin." he said with emotion. "I never had much of a family life. I did not have much of a family, period. What I want to say is, would you be my brother?"

"I was not a good brother to any of mine. Not Edward, not Judith, and certainly not Carl. Well, maybe you are the one brother that I am not going to disappoint."

Adam offered Quentin his hand. "Good luck, Quentin."

* * *

Urien looked at the phone wistfully. It was still daytime and thus Barnabas could not call. But still, each time it rang he thought it coujld be him.

"What's the matter, kid?" Willie said. "Why can't you stay in one place?"

"I just wonder how Barnabas is doing. It must be tough for him."

"It is." Willie admitted.

"And there is nothing we can do."

"Just listen to him when he calls, and be quietly supportive. But we can only stand outside, looking."

"But that's unfair." Urien protested. "To leave him all alone, without even the cats. How do you think he likes that?"

"Not much." Willie admitted "But he's got a place to stay, he knows that he is no danger to anyone, and that he's got all the blood he wants. Which is more than what he had back in the woods. But still it is tough. We are close, he and I. I knew him from the start... But George is with him every day."

Urien and Willie stared at each otehr.

"Yeah." Willie admitted finally. "I know what George and Barnabas do."

"It is all right, then, when it is them who do it?" Urien asked defiantly. "Only when I do it, you get nervous?"

Willie sighed. Urien was right, in a way. But wrong in another. It was true that he resented Urien's position as Barnabas' adopted son, and his sexual orientation had not helped things. Worse, even , was the fact that Urien got paid for it.

"It has little to do with you, really." he confessed "I would care little of what you did and with whom if Barnabas had not made you his son. You see, I got around to thinking of him as my daddy. I did not want any competition."

"Did you and Barnabas ever...?"

"No! Sometimes it looked that ways because we were so close. But I wanted him to be my daddy, and he wanted me to be his son. Nothing more and nothing less."

"It is the same with me."

"And I am supposed to be glad that he replaced me with you? I know... I know. I was the one who left him, because it was time to do so. Because I had to start my own family and become someone else's daddy. But... I wish I could tell you about him. How long he and I have known each other. How it began, how it was then. How I resent you because he was never brutal with you, as he was with me at the beginning."

"I never heard of it."

"You want to hear it now?"

"Yes."

* * *

"How are you doing Vicky?" Barnabas asked over the phone.

"Busy, between caring for Phillip, and studying to become an adult instructor, I have plenty to do."

"So you don't want to help me with the Break for the World project?"

"I never said that. I know that it is important to you, and to me too. I know something about hunger. We got to see more than we wanted to, Phillip and I, when the times got tough. It is just that I need to figure out how much time to give."

"I will not expect you to carry the load all by yourself."

"This is important to you too, isn't it?"

"Let's say that I have become more sensitized to the issue of hunger in the last days." he said wryly. "It cannot help finding it shocking to find that there is so much hunger in the U.S."

"It was shocking for me to find out about it first hand. At one time Phillip and I had to go to a food pantry run by a church. It is an awful feeling to know that you are working as hard as you can, trying as hard as you can, and then you have to stand in line to receive charity."

"That I never knew."

"I hope never to go through that again."

"How's little Phillip doing?"

"Growing up fast. He was a bit colicky a couple of weeks ago, but he's over it. I think that he's going to be a healthy child."

"I am glad."

"I never thanked you for what you did. It must have cost you much. She was family to you."

"She wanted it too. She was in too much pain."

"Still, it must have been hard.."

"It was." he tried to banish the image from his mind. "Vicky, I know that you do not want to teach Edmund anymore, but can you make up with Carolyn? She is family, after all."

"No. Barnabas,.." she bit down her scathing answer. "I know. It is your family, and I cannot ask you to go against them. It is not who you are. All I can tell you is that it is not my family."

"You are Roger's daughter."

"He does not acknowledge it, and neither does Carolyn. She paid me off not to try to have it acknowledged, and I am keeping my end of the bargain."

"Still."

"Barnabas, do not get in the middle of this. You what happens to those who get in the middle? When the parties become friends again, they both turn against the well meaning busybody who started giving them advice they did not want to hear. I owe you too much. I wish you the best. And please do not get between Carolyn and me."

"I hope that one day\, you and her can be friends again. After all, Phillip is Roger's grandson."

"Which means that he has phoenix blood?"

"Vicky!"

"Laura was Roger's grandmother, wasn't she? That makes him a quarter phoenix. And Phillip one sixteenth."

"Not enough to worry about, I would think."

"And how about you?" How are you bearing up these days?"

"Much better. I still have this terrible hunger, but it does not scare me so much. And David's recovered. he's a bit spooked and I don't blame him for it. I talked with him and he was gracious about it."

"How about Hallie?"

"She was not so gracious." he sighed. "I guess she finds it hard to trust me. Well, time may change that."

"Yes. Time will take care of a lot of things."

"Also, Maggie came through, and Urien will be starting work at the Environmental Center as a volunteer, for the experience. They will also be taking in other young people."

"That's good. It is good politics for her, after all. And you two can manage to work better together if it is on the phone."

Barnabas laughed. It was true..

"Look, Vicky. I have to hang up. George is coming."

"Good night, Barnabas."

"Good night, Vicky."

* * *

Will Megan escape? What has Yolanda planned for them? How much worse will Barnabas' hunger get? And what will Hallie do now that she married David?

Stay tuned.


End file.
